Dawn Brocco's Life & Design Blog

Swatch for the coat design in 3 colors of B&L's Atlantic is done - am thinking a-line, about 32" long to hit mid to lower thigh - depending on one's height.

It's in 3 colors, with some duplicate stitching afterwards - I'm not so nuts as to make anyone knit with 3 colors across a row, including myself! But I LOVE how a 3rd color adds more interest to a stranded design.

Like all farm yarns, this one blooms, as well. These yarns don't always feel great in the hank or while knitting, but one can't judge them then. Ya gotta wash them up first and let them dry.

I've been thinking about those 6 sale hanks of B&L Atlantic yarn coming in a red color. Not enough for that lovely Sylvie coat, but should be enough for a capelet. A quick, warm knit to don when I need to take the Pisher out in the cold to walk him (more and more, the older he gets). I could make it a button-down, but leave it buttoned and just pull it over my head - the faster one gets the dog outside, the better.

Nothing, besides the Priority Mail boxes I ordered, came in Saturday's mail, so I gotta wait til Monday. I do hate that. I want mail EVERY day! Especially when I know stuff is coming - like my hair!, and the Christmas gifts I ordered, and necessaries from drugstore.com (free shipping with this order, as I ordered from them recently, as well), and those hanks of Homestead wool yarn from one shop and the Atlantic wool yarns from another. Oh, the waiting!

My mitten pattern is languishing, I know. I'm not happy with 2 of the samples and am either gonna rip them out, AGAIN, and reknit them, or just order new yarn with which to reknit the samples. I find that if a design tortures me, it's probably best to just let it go and forget about all the time that went into it. Bah. So, I have 4 pairs of mittens I'll probably just put aside for donating to a good cause....

If I let it leave my brain and say, I'm done with it, the brain can go onto other things, without guilt. The yarn was given to me. Cascade Yarns http://www.cascadeyarns.com is wonderful about yarn support - but I'm just not having a good time with this one. I'll do better next time, I promise!

As you can see, I haven't changed my blog style, like I wanted to, but as I host it on MY server, not Blogger's, there's no easy way for me to just plop in a new background with graphics, and I'm not one to spend a whole bunch of time figuring out how to do something if it isn't crucial, and this isn't, so the same old blog it remains. I *could* put it all onto Blogger, but it's my content and I feel better having it on my server, even though I'm sure I'm paying for the extra bandwidth. It's a good thing I only see that bill on my card every 2 years!

MUST decide what to knit with those 2 lovely Eco hanks that Barbara sent me. I was kinda thinking of a hat with attached scarf. I like quick-to-don clothes, especially with that Pisher to walk.

And shoveling snow while it's still snowing out. That's what I don't like about a separate hat and scarf combo - the snow always gets down one's neck, as the wind unfurls the scarf all the time. Then you go to rewrap the scarf, and inevitably wrap it with the wet side against your neck - blech. Something cabled/aran-style maybe - more than likely - love those cables! And maybe shaped down the back to stay tucked inside one's coat - Hmmm.

As you can see, I'm not into designing much *just* to suit trends or fads. I design to fill a need that I find in my wardrobe and home. Speaking of home, I haven't knit anything for the house in ages - maybe some pillows should be coming soon - yes, could use some new pillow accents around here.

And I DO have those old, old towels to cut up and crochet. I WILL get to that soon, as well. SUCH satisfaction I get from using up what would ordinarily just go into the rag pile. Gotta have hubby sharpen my scissors, first, though. I don't have one of those rag cutters - too costly for the infrequent use they'd get. I do have, though, one of those round-bladed quilt fabric cutters - just needs a new blade. Wonder if it'll cut through terry bath toweling?

Actually, hmmm, that blue toweling would also make cozy pillow cover fabric. And I could embroider one side, with a thick enough cotton yarn (to be pre-washed, for SURE).

OK, I'm piling up enough ideas here, gotta get to actualizing them. Back to work!

Labels: Atlantic yarn, Briggs and Little, Homestead wool yarn, Sylvie coat